TIRED after the festive fun? Depressed by the time of the year? Eager to set some new course?

Take a leaf out of adventurer Philip Young’s book.

Last year, he and co-driver Paul Brace crossed 13 countries, two continents and broke the world record for their epic trip.

And they did it in an 875cc Fiat Panda that did not even need servicing at the end of its trans-Africa marathon.

The men cracked the record time taken to drive from Cape Town to London – beating it by more than a day.

The challenge was originally thrown down in 1933 by two pioneers in a 900cc Morris 8. In the 50s and 60s, car manufacturers vied with each other to set the best time and, in 1983, the British Army, going at it non-stop, set a 14-day record in a V8 Land Rover.

In 2010, this was then reduced to 11 days and 14 hours in a Land Rover Discovery.

So what prompted Philip to think he could do it – and indeed take the title – in a humble Fiat Panda?

“I organised a rally from London to Cape Town and learned an awful lot two years ago,” he said.

“And I thought, having driven it in a Land Rover Discovery and a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck, the way to beat the record was to take a very small car and prove, at the same time, that small cars can be comfortable and you can do long journeys – they’re not just city cars.

“We were wondering what to take to get through some very busy cities such as Nairobi, Cairo and Khartoum, with permanent traffic jams, and we were convinced if the car was strong enough we could also drive across Africa non-stop and beat the record.

“But to do it we had to do 1000 miles a day driving absolutely without stopping. The engine wouldn’t be turned off other than for getting on a ferry and we would have to average 41mph for 24 hours.”

The Fiat Panda had been voted the best city car so Philip went off to his local dealer and test drove a TwinAir – and he surprised himself by loving it.

“It impressed me – it was very well screwed together and had a tough feel, so we bought one from our local dealer,” he said.

What marked the project out was that it was free from sponsorship.

Philip and Paul wanted to do the journey themselves. So, not only did they buy their own car, they bought every piece of equipment on it from the tyres right down to the wiper blades.

Then they set about modifying it but on a strict budget, putting in only an extra fuel tank, stronger springs, under-body protection and a couple of other bits and pieces.

Their aim was to keep it as standard as possible – their accommodation was a cut- down foam mattress across the back seat.

The long and tortuous route to Britain from South Africa included tough, unmade, pot-holed roads and treacherous, dry, desert tracks.

They passed through Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia before crossing the Mediterranean for the final run up through Italy and France to London’s Hyde Park.

Temperatures ranged from freezing cold nights to 40C in Sudan.

The plan was to drive three hours on and three hours off. They would fill up with petrol twice a day, try to cruise at 70 to 80mph and complete about 600 miles on their tanks of fuel. On February 1 last year, they left Cape Town, heading towards Mafeking and the Zambian border.

“We went through Botswana and headed for the ferry to cross the Zambezi, keeping to our schedule,” said Philip.

“Then we hit a tropical thunderstorm, which had the Panda’s wipers going full blast, and, after that, Lusaka, which was pretty snarled up with traffic. But the Panda excelled there, cutting through it all.

“Some of the roads were lovely but our pace dropped after leaving Mpika. The road was bumpy and lorries were sitting on their axles by the roadside without lights. The ground was very soft and we had long stretches of sand as well.

“Butterflies, moths and insects made greasy streaks across the windscreen and it was impossible to avoid the potholes.

“We bumped about so much, we were amazed the dashboard and wiring wasn’t around our ankles.

“But nothing ever fell off and reliability was the key to our success. We were so tired that I don’t think we would have had time or the inclination to cope with mechanical problems.”

In Tanzania, they were down to first gear in a convoy. A gruelling 24 hours took them through Kenya, where on the fifth day they picked up an armed escort in the northern part of the country, whose driver told them the Panda was unlikely to make it much further.

ON their way, Philip and Paul raised money for the Farm Africa charity. They work with families in rural areas, helping them to produce food more effectively. They train and support farmers to improve the way they manage their crops, livestock, forests and access to water.

The charity help families build a future for themselves free from hunger. For more information, visit www.farmafrica.org

By midnight, his four-wheel drive was up to its axle in sand and the Panda was skimming along.

Ethiopia was their biggest setback because they crossed the border with only two-thirds of a tank of fuel and looking for petrol – but there was a national petrol strike.

The car crossed the whole of Ethiopia to the border with Sudan as its drivers adopted “economy driving” tactics, cruising down mountain slopes in neutral.

The car’s dashboard told them they had 150 miles of petrol left but they still had 200 miles to go.

Philip said: “At four in the morning, we checked the range on the computer and it said ‘nil’.

“At 11am, we were still driving the car having gone over hills like Snowdonia and we ended up at the border, where we met a donkey coming the other way with two jerry cans on its back – and we were the happiest bunnies in the land.”

Then it was Khartoum, along the Nile and on through Sudan. The sand ruined the CD player – but not the engine.

At the Libyan border, three car enthusiasts came to cheer them on.

Although the border had been closed to foreigners, they were allowed through – their armed escorts struggling to keep up as they passed rusting tanks and pick-up trucks with machine guns, and then on to Tunisia and their first glimpse of the Mediterranean.

Crossing the Med took them to Italy, where heavy snow hampered their journey and they had to divert via Naples and Rome.

On the last day, it was a sprint to the Channel Tunnel through France but, finally, at 5.28pm on Monday, February 11, they drove their Fiat Panda under Marble Arch in London, ending 10,000 miles in 10 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes.

“It was a remarkable time on the road – exciting and exhilarating,” said Philip.

“The roads were treacherous, the heat unbearable and the timetable exhausting but the car never missed a beat.

“When we got to the end, the Panda still did not need oil or water.

“This was an extremely tough journey but we made it because of the car’s reliability and ruggedness.”